I know, it's taking me forever and with no end in sight this could take me years! Hopefully not but you never know. Also this chapter is kind of short, but that's just where it ended up ending! So without further adieu, chapter nine!



Chapter 9


Dorian was mad. She stormed into her kitchen only to find Kevin there with her housekeeper.

“KEVIN! This really is not the time! Please leave!” She opens the door, and with a flourish sweeps her arm out, gesturing for him to leave.

“Relax Dorian. God I’m not even here to see you for Christ’s sake. I’m here to… Wait…aren’t you supposed to be out with my father like right now?!” A smirk of realization crosses his face. “Wait, oh, oh, oh, oh, did you have another fight with him?! Oh boy.”

“GET. OUT. NOW.” She growls at him slowly to ensure he understands. Gesturing once again for him to leave.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go, for now that is. But I will be back. Oh I almost forgot, now I do realize there is a slim chance of you actually doing this but would you inform Kelly I stopped by to see her?” Still smirking he takes his leave. But before he can get fully out of the door Dorian slams it, slightly catching his heels. He lets out a little yelp of pain, now it’s Dorian’s turn to smirk.

Rubbing her temples she turns to find her housekeeper timidly edging her way out of the kitchen. “Ah wait one moment, umm…. Eleanor… no, Elise?” The maid nods her head yes. “Elise, yes, next time he is NOT to be let in this house. Clear?”

“Oui Madame. Je comprendre. Next time the, uh, riff raff as you so often call him will remain on the porch.” After a slight curtsy accompanied with a bow of the head, Elise takes her leave quickly.

“Ughh! Could this night get any worse?!” Dorian screams into the empty kitchen. She flings her arms up in the air allowing them to come rest on her face, almost as if to emphasize her point. Even though there is no one in the room.

“Umm, am I interrupting something?”

Dorian turns around, a mixture of surprise and anger playing at her features, contorting them.





At the airport Nash and Jessica are sitting in the waiting area. Well Nash is sitting his head moving from one side to the other slowly as he watches Jessica pace back and forth.

“Oh God, are we doing the right thing? Or are we running away from our problems? Oh my god! What about Bree? What if my mother can’t handle her? We’re going for two and a half weeks, what if that’s too long? What if she misses us? We should have brought her with us.”

“Relax. First of all, who’s to say what the right thing is? For us anyways. Second of all, no I don’t think we’re running away. I think we’re taking the time we need to find our footing in this slippery situation. And lastly, your mother brought up three children her-self; she can handle her granddaughter for a little over two weeks, that’s not too long. I’m sure she will miss us, but I think she needs to stay here so that we don’t have any distractions and we can focus on figuring this all out. Ok. Now are you sure you want to do this?”

“No, I’m not sure… Oh, Nash, I’m so confused. I… I don’t think now is the best time to go away, and I know I can’t leave my baby girl for this long.”

“Well then,” he stands up grabbing most of the bags, “I guess we should… go to… your mother’s house? The vineyard?”

“Mom’s house.” She states firmly, grabbing the remaining bags. “I need to see Bree.” A sudden look of uncertainty flickers across her face. “I guess you could come, I mean of course you’re coming, but I, you could stay… mom has tons of rooms… Bree and I are there apteral…” she falters while talking, suddenly losing her composure, having no idea what-so-ever to do in this situation.

Seeing how she’s fumbling, not able to find the right words to express what she wants, Nash steps in, “I would love to stay with my daughter, and you being there is an added bonus.”

Jessica heaves a sigh of relief. that was the answer she was hoping for. She was happy to be going home, but she wasn’t sure she was up to taking care of Bree all by herself. And god knows her mother and brothers all had enough on their plates. “Thanks. Now let’s get out of here. If you can believe it, I’m exhausted. Apparently sleeping and crying all day really tires a person out.”

They both start to laugh. Nash sees the look of real contentment on Jessica’s face and he knows right away that they’re doing the right thing.

Looking around to make sure they’ve got everything he shifts all the bags to one arm and puts his free arm around Jessica’s waist pulling her close. “Let’s go get our daughter’s stuff.” He pauses for a minute in quiet contemplation. “Do you really want to stay at your mothers?”

“Well…” as she ponders his question, she realizes that she in fact does not want to stay with her mother. “No… it would not be my first choice… but where else can we go?”

“We could… stay at The Palace… or… the Vineyard? It’s not completely done, but it’s pretty darn close. At least enough for us to e comfortable.”

“That would be great. We can figure, this, whatever it is, out in peace. Without fear of my mother or brothers interrupting at any given moment.”

Nash smiles, he likes the sound of that…






“Well, you don’t exactly look happy to see me.” Clint steps out of the shadow; in his hands Dorian can see a bouquet of purple hyacinth interspersed with three different color roses. “The florist advised me on which ones to choose when asking for forgiveness,”

“Oh, Clint, I…” the expression on her face softens considerably when she sees the flowers.

“Wait Dorian, please let me finish. The hyacinth are my way of asking you to forgive me, because the meaning of purple hyacinth is ‘Please forgive me’ and the red roses mean ‘Love or Passion’ and the pink ones are for… oh wait let me see, I know I’ve got it written somewhere…” he starts to search his pockets but finds he’s lost it. “Oh, well. I suppose the actual meaning of the flowers isn’t too important. But one thing is, and that’s that I’m sorry. What I said, was, well it was insensitive on my part.” His hand caresses her cheek making its way down her back as he slowly urges her closer.

Dorian takes the flowers in her hands ad brings them up to her face, taking a deep breath of their sweet scent. She slowly looks back up at Clint, and then she turns towards the sink. “I should put these in water.”

Clint sighs. He knew he really hurt her. He knew that David was still somewhat of a sore subject, and yet he still went there. “Ok. You’re still mad, and you have every right to be darlin. I’m sorry.” Shoving his hands in his pocket he finds the piece of paper with all the flower meanings on it. “Oh, here it is. Darlin’ the pink roses mean happiness, which I thought were important to include, and the peach ones mean ‘Desire or excitement’.”

He moves a little closer to her but she maintains an even look on her face. “I’m having a hard time tellin’ what yer thinking or feelin’ right now. But I’d put my money on pretty damned upset. I…”

“Of course I’m upset!” came her retort. “You call me naïve and superficial and expect me to be fine with it!” the calm and cool façade, she put up to conceal her pain and anger, is quickly melting away. “You even compared me to Tina! For gods sake.” She exclaims on the verge of tears. Clint quickly draws her into his embrace and holds her tight. “I hate this.” She mutters almost inaudibly into his broad chest.

“Huh?” he questions, visibly distracted by her gentle touch and flowery feminine scent.

“I hate how you always make me feel like everything will be ok, just by holding me. You did that some 30 years ago and now it seems we’re back in the same place.” She explains, turning her head to gaze into his deep blue eyes. She draws herself up to her tiptoes for a sweet kiss. A sweet kiss that soon turns passionate.

Guiding her over to the bench, Clint sits and pulls her down onto his lap. Pulling back he stares deep into her eyes and asks; “This isn’t about Viki and David is it?”

“No.” she says quietly. “It’s not.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” A concerned look overtakes the pervious one of lust and desire. Dorian is really upset about something and he just can’t figure it out, and he so wants to help.

Again her reply is no. She clings to him a moment longer before drawing away. “I just want to go to sleep.”

“Do you want me to stay, or would you rather spend the night alone?” he asks with a cheeky grin, trying to lighten the mood.

“No, stay.” A meek smile forms on her lips. “I can’t imagine anything feeling better tonight than having your arms wrapped around me as I sleep.”

They slowly walk out of the kitchen hand-in-hand. Once they are already all the way upstairs, Kelly bursts into the room and yells for her aunt. She carelessly searches the lower level of the house, and when she receives no answer, she assumes her aunt is still out, wherever it is she was tonight. Hastily running back out the same way she came, she fails to realize that the door is left partially open in her wake.






The shrill beep of an alarm clock cut through the dark quiet of the dead of night. A feminine hand reaches over trying to find the snooze button. Moments before the button is hit the hand changes course and instead flicks on the light. As she sits up Kelly’s messy blond curls fall into her face. It’s three-thirty in the morning. Right about now Kelly is really wishing she hadn’t promised to pick up her cousin at the airport.

She would have to hurry if she was going to make it on time. So no time for a long shower this morning.

After an almost cold shower to wake her-self up she hurries into her closet for the insipid task of finding something to wear. After quickly throwing that on she hurries to apply minimal make-up. It was a good thing she had decided to take a room at the Palace. Not only was it closer to Zane, but also she didn’t have to worry about waking Dorian and having to contend with her questions as to where she was going at such a ‘God-awful hour’. However there was still the matter of getting Cassie into the house un-noticed, but they’d deal with that when they absolutely had to.

Yippeee! I'm thrilled at a new chapter! So much energy in this chapter with lots happening! I loved Nash/Jess but no surprise there. And the stuff with Clint and Dorian was really sweet. I particularly like the care Clint took with the flowers and the meaning behind them. I could really imagine the scene. You did a really good job with it. I also want to see more of that on the show. You know that I'm curious about what's happening with Dorian. Hmmm. And so Cassie's coming? That should be good or maybe not. Can't wait to read what you're cooking up! Thanks again for the Dorian and Clint scene. It was perfect!

Oh and I meant to add, "Clint compared Dorian to TINA!?" Ah no! Just no. That was in chapter 8.

Damn, I just wrote this huge paragraph and my friend sent me something and I lost everything I just wrote, so this is going to be a more condensed version.

I'm thrilled that you're thrilled about this chapter, there were many re-writes. Especially with the Clint and Dorian scene. At first he was only giving her three dozen blood red roses, but then I thought that was too cliché. I'm trying to put more detail into their scenes than we are getting on the show, often times I feel the gloss over the little things. The little things are what make the show more believable as a whole.

Are you curious about Dorian in my story or on the show or both?

The Cassie part is a tad bitter-sweet at the moment, although I don't have too much written. I'm hoping I'll have enough time to update every week, but I don't forsee that, probably more like every other week.

Well I had to throw in a blast from the past! Otherwise he wouldn't have had anything to apologize for!

Grr! I hate when that happens.

I could tell that you put thought in to the meaning behind the flowers and in that way, it made Clint more considerate. That's never a bad thing in a man. Also, it was the way he did it. It was awkward for him but he tried really hard because he loves her. You could see that in the way the scene was written. And yes, it's those kind of touches that make a couple endearing.

I am anxious to see what Carlivati has in store. I do think so much is glossed over when it comes to romance while other things are repeated. Miles/Marty and Marty/John is a repeat almost every day for 3 weeks now. You will see what I mean if you are able to do the live caps. Anyway, I want some more tender scenes of Clint and Dorian on the show. Robin and Jerry are doing a fabulous job in showing us the characters are closer but I want to actually see them spend some time alone. I get to have that in your story and I appreciate it.

Well in your story, I'm curious what else is on Dorian's mind. Oh and I like the reference to them having known each other for 30 years and how his embrace seems to make her feel that everything will be OK. Isn't that what it is like when you are embraced by the man that you love? Dorian feels safe and protected instead of always having to be in defensive and mother lioness mode. On the show, I don't see enough happening for Dorian independent of what is going on with her and Clint. I am not pleased with that aspect in the writing of her character for the moment. While I embrace the romance, I want to see Dorian doing other things, too.
As for Cassie, I'm not a huge fan but I miss her even though she irks me with the tears and I know that Dorian will be happy to see her.